Prevalence of fungi in surfaces: gymnasiums with swimming pool case

Abstract

Background - Gyms with pool environment may promote the fungal contamination not only due to variables such as temperature and air humidity, but also because of the growing number of people attending these spaces and hygienic measures applied. Objectives - To describe the environmental fungal contamination phenomena in the surfaces of gyms with pool and explore possible associations between environmental variables. Methods - A descriptive study was developed and for this fungal contamination in the surface of ten establishments, being the most popular of the thirty existing in Lisbon area, was monitored. Swab samples from surfaces were collected, before and after cleaning and disinfection, in six different places of each establishment. Simultaneously, environmental parameters - temperature and humidity - were also monitored through the equipment Babouc A, from LSI Systems. Results - Thirty-seven different species of fungi were identified. Fusarium sp. was the most frequent before (19.1%) and after (17.2%) cleaning and disinfection. Regarding yeast, twelve different species were identified. Cryptococcus sp. (40.6%) was the most frequent before cleaning and disinfection and Candida sp. (49.3%) was the most frequent after. Cleaning and disinfection do not presentthe expected efficiency and the fungal contamination showed no significant relationship with temperature and humidity (p > 0.05). Conclusions - The fungus distribution in the floor was similar with international studies. However, results concerning the efficiency of cleaning and disinfection were not the expected and relationship between fungal contamination and the temperature and humidity are contradictory with results of others studies, maybe due to the influence of other environmental variables.

Keywords

• ginásios, piscinas, contaminação fúngica, variáveis ambientais, temperatura, humidade